Year 1 - Holly

Let's get married! 14.5.18

As part of our R.E. learning about different ceremonies and celebrations, we held our own Year One Wedding at the Woodford Methodist church.

We hope you enjoy looking at our photos. Also watch this space because we are going to be writing a recount of our wedding in our English work later this week.

What a lovely day for a wedding!

Learning about Baptism at Woodford Methodist Church 12.3.18

Today we all got to attend a Baptism ceremony at the church. Baptism is the ceremony where Christians of any age are welcomed into God's family. We took our babies to be baptised and all acted out the role of Parents, Godparents and family/friends at the service. Everybody enjoyed singing songs to celebrate, learning about the holy water in the font and saying the promises to our babies. We also met Grace a very lovely baby girl who had been baptised in the church a couple of weeks ago. Grace looked very beautiful in her Baptism gown and had the water poured on her head and the sign of the cross. We were able to ask lots of questions about the church and Jesus. It was interesting to hear the story shown on the stained glass window in the church and watch the Minister baptise each baby and light a candle. Back in class we celebrated by eating a Baptism cake which was delicious!

What happens during a Baptism?

Dress up as your favourite book character day.

The day it snowed at Woodford!

Finding halves of shapes and amounts.

In Maths we have been learning how to halve shapes equally. We experimented with all different kinds of shapes to see which ones folded equally into half. What does equal mean? Perhaps you could explain to someone at home or show them an equal half. Then we thought about which numbers we could divide equally into half. Some numbers can not be divided into half... can you remember which numbers? Why?

We can halve amounts.

Polar learning day - 26.2.18

We had a very exciting day learning all about Polar climates. We had a talk from Robby (Oliver's Dad) who has just returned from his research trip. He showed us photos and videos and told us all about the weather. We also had Tom who is a Penguin expert from Living Coasts in Torquay. He taught us all about what life is like as a penguin and we did lots of fun and exciting activities like balancing eggs on our feet, huddling like penguins and thinking about how penguins can survive in cold climates. We wrote fact files about Penguins, did Science experiments to prove how wax makes a penguins feathers waterproof and printed our own penguin portraits using potatoes!

Learning all about penguins with Tom from Living Coasts.

Feeling icy cold water

How heavy is a penguin?

Holding a model of a penguin

Can we dress like a penguin?

Huddling like penguins to keep warm

Can you balance your egg on your feet?

Yes! I can balance my egg.

Penguin Puppet show fun.

Penguin learning!

Half term homework challenge. An excellent 3D Book Cover for Peace at Last by Jill Murphy.

Congratulations! Key Stage One Winner

Creating our Polar Artwork

Using collage to create our own Snowy Owls

Can you paint a Polar bear portrait?

Scenes using a watercolour wash, salt & crayon

Pom poms with white paint make Polar bear fur!

Penguin dancing!

As we are learning about cold climates this term we thought it would be fun to try to move like a penguin. We have been moving our arms like flippers, balancing our feet and moving in time to our 'Penguin song'.

Can you move like a penguin?

Learning about the place value of numbers

The Holly class Mathematicians have been busy thinking about the place value of 2 digit numbers. They have been playing games on the 100 square learning about the Tens which are shown in columns and the Ones which are in rows. Mrs Beresford has been hiding numbers for the children to find using the place value of the numbers either side or above and below. We have been 'sniffing' out patterns on the 100 square too. Which patterns can you explain to someone at home? The class have also been looking at how numbers are shown in different ways e.g. the bead string. They have been counting in 10's and 1's to label different numbers on the bead string and carefully counting along to find their own numbers.

Can you find and label a number on a bead string?

Winter is here!

What changes have you noticed during the start of the Winter season? We have been learning about how the weather gets colder, the days are shorter and darker, some animals hibernate and we have to dress differently. We have frozen some bears in ice and thought about how we could help them escape,designed new gloves and hats and made snowflakes using our cutting skills.

Learning about Winter

January 2018

Happy New Year 2018!

Welcome back to school. We have enjoyed hearing all about your Christmas holidays and the ways you celebrated with your families.

This term we will be learning all about the season of Winter and also what life is like in colder climates.

Antarctica talk

The Holly class had a very special visitor on Wednesday. Robby, Ollie's Dad, came in to tell us all about his upcoming trip to Antarctica to work with his research team. He showed us where Antarctica was and where he would be staying. We tried on some of the clothes that he would have to wear, as it is so cold there. Robby is leaving at the beginning of December to work in Antarctica for 3 months! He is going to send us some pictures while he is there and we are also hoping to be able to call him and speak to him during his stay. We will keep you all posted on his adventures! Good luck to Robby-we hope you have a fantastic trip and the penguins don't bother you too much.

Explorer visit

Year One -Teddy bear hospital visit 15.11.17

Year One had a very exciting workshop on Wednesday led by the Plymouth University Medical students. The children took part in lots of activities which included finding out about the skeleton, using a special machine to look at germs on the skin, learning how to washing their hands properly, finding their pulse and looking at the different equipment that a doctor uses. At the end of the session each child were able to do some first aid on their teddy that they had brought from home and the doctors wrote a prescription for the toy which included treatment like ‘lots of cuddles’ and ‘eating vegetables!’

Thank you to PCMD WAMS Medical students for an excellent learning experience for all involved.

Teddy bear hospital

What is inside the doctor's bag?

I can hear your heart beating.

Can we find your pulse?

Which part of the skeleton is this?

We loved looking at each part of the skeleton.

Can we wash our hands properly?

We found a thigh bone!

This teddy needs some treatment in the clinic.

Which bone is this?

We put a bandage on our teddy.

We remember... 11.11.2017

This week to mark Remembrance day the children have learning about the symbolism of the Poppy. We held a Remembrance assembly during which we thought about the special work of our Armed forces and the sacrifices and lives that were given in the past to keep us safe and encourage peace in the world. We held a 2 minute silence and listened the Last Post being played.

Mrs Mouzourous (who is a sewing expert!) taught us how to make felt poppies. We learned how to sew the fabric together using a running stitch, chose our own coloured button to make our poppy design unique, threaded a pipe cleaner for the stalk into the button and then curled it round our finger to make it 3d. A big thank you to Mrs Mouzourous for her fantastic teaching and also for making a beautiful felt canvas to display our poppies in the entrance to KS1. Mrs Beresford was extremely impressed by the children's sewing skills - they mastered the running stitch very quickly, well done everyone!

Poppy workshop November 2017

Learning how to sew with Mrs Mouzourous.

Carefully sewing the running stitch.

What a beautiful felt poppy!

We curled the pipe cleaner to create a stalk

Great sewing and making.

Fantastic persevering with the tricky sewing.

Our beautiful felt poppies

Autumn is here in the Holly class!

The Holly class have very much enjoyed learning about the Autumn season. We have been on an Autumn walk to look for signs that the season has changed. All the children could tell that the weather was getting colder and felt the Autumn breeze on their cheeks. We spotted how the leaves are changing colour and falling from the trees. We thought about how different animals are preparing for Winter by collecting seeds and nuts. Some birds are migrating to warmer places and we saw a Robin on our walk. We have collected different types of leaves and looked at their natural symmetry. By cutting a leaf in half we could experiment to see if we could sketch the other half, mirroring the shape and colour. We have created our very own hedgehogs made out of leaf collage and wrote Autumn poetry. In class we have been playing with animal toys, leaves, pine cones, conkers and acting out stories in our Autumn play tray.

Great symmetrical sketching

We looked closely at the shape of the leaf.

Making leaf collage hedgehogs.

You did it! Good observing and sketching.

Toys from the past

We have started our new topic which is all about 'Toys'. We have a new role play toy shop where we can sell and buy the sort of toys that we like to play with. We have also started to think about how toys were different in the past. What sort of toys did our grandparents play with? How were they different or similar to the ones we play with now? What sort of materials were the toys made from? Who played with the toys and where?

These are all good questions to talk about at home.

Our new toy shop role-play

We are the shopkeepers. How can we help you?

ICT in the Holly class. We can program an object to move!

Can we program the bee?

Will the bee need to turn left or right?

Using forward commands to move the bee.

Amazing adjectives!

After learning the story 'Peace at Last' we then began to think about how we could describe characters using adjectives. We took it in turns to be 'Mr Bear' and said how we felt. We also thought about how Mr Bear looked. We collected a bank of great adjectives to describe Mr Bear and then wrote some describing sentences. Holly class have also been learning how to use 'and' and 'because' as joining words in our sentences to give the reader more information. We hope you enjoy reading our great sentences below...

Mr Bear was annoyed that he couldn't sleep. He was feeling tired. Mr Bear has a black nose and a dripping nose. By Mia.

Mr Bear was tired and grumpy. Mr Bear was sad because he didn't get to sleep. He was very unhappy and very sleepy. Mr Bear has a wet nose and furry ears. By Joshua.

Mr Bear is tired and he has a beautiful dressing gown. He has pink eyes and is wearing stripy pyjamas. He has a grumpy face because Mrs Bear was snoring. He was really grumpy. By Esmee.

Great writing Holly class!

Peace at Last by Jill Murphy

In our English work we have been reading 'Peace at Last' which is written by our Author of the half term 'Jill Murphy'.

Holly class have really enjoyed finding out about what kept Mr Bear awake all night and they are all able to confidently tell the story using their own actions.

In Maths we have been learning Number bonds to 10. We have been finding the different bonds using cubes and learning rhymes to help us remember the pairs of numbers. A good game to play at home to add numbers to ten is to use dominoes. Can you find 2 dominoes to make a square which adds up to 10?

We can make 10!

I can make 10

I am learning number bonds quickly!

I can make 10 in lots of different ways

Investigating two dominoes that add to 10

Colour mixing

What does red and blue make?

Working and observing together.

Marvellous map making!

Last week in our Geography learning we read a story about Little Red Riding hood and the route she followed to go to her Grandma's house. We memorised the route and thought about all the symbols we could use for each part e.g. the bridge, the woods and roads. We drew our own maps using symbols and a clear order for Little Red to follow. Holly class produced some fantastic maps. Some children then decided that they would like to make a 3d model of the route and some asked for BIG pieces of paper to make collaborative maps with each other. Fantastic mapping Holly class!

Marvellous Map making

Year One Parent Meeting 13.9.17

Please find below our Autumn term leaflet and the powerpoint we showed at our Year 1 parent meeting on Wednesday.

Another busy week of learning in the Holly class.

We have had a great week of learning. The children have been learning what a sentence is and have been thinking what is needed in their 'Sentence toolkit'. They have written some excellent sentences about what they like to do at home; remembering to count the words needed for their sentence, a capital letter and a full stop. In our spelling work we have been learning what a syllable is and counting the syllables we can hear in words. Maths has been very exciting with lots of estimating and subitising (reading a number from a pattern without having to count it.) The Holly class have had a chance to look at the Abacus Maths site and play their first game. The children have brought home a bookmark with their own personal login which they can use to access their learning space at home. New games will be added every Friday.

Estimating how many objects will fit in a matchbox

We are subitising!

Rolling a dice to subitise

Subitising with different dominoes

A great sentence!

Sentence expert

I can use my sentence toolkit

Challenge! Can you build your own hospital

Hospital role play

Can you design your own playdough face?

Listening to the syllables in words and sorting

We can count the different syllables in words

Welcome to Year One - September 2017

We would like to give a warm welcome to the new Holly class. The children have had a wonderful first week in Year One. They have been coming into class confidently and enthusiastically. We have been really impressed with how quickly they have settled into their daily routines and how independent everyone has been; well done Holly class! The children have enjoyed exploring their new classroom and finding out about Year One.

The class have made an excellent start to their learning. We have been writing numbers in Maths and writing sentences about our Summer holidays in our English work. We have thought about what we would like to achieve in Year One and wrote a wish on a magic, genie lamp. We have been thinking about our school rules of respect and made a 'Respect headband' to show what respect looks like in school. Our topic this half term is 'Marvellous Me', during which we will be learning all about our senses. Some of the Holly class have started to play and enjoy their 'Hospital' role play area.

We look forward to meeting Holly Parents on Wednesday 13th September at the Year 1 Parents Meeting from 4-5pm. Mrs Beresford & Mrs Jenkins.

Our first week in Year One

Practising our numbers in the sand trays

We can write numbers from 0-10

Can you guess which number is missing?

Respect headbands

Thinking about our 3 school rules of respect

Respect headband

A doctor is ready to see his patients

Hospital role play

We hope everyone has an enjoyable Summer break. Children to return back to school on Tuesday 4th September.